High Salaries Haunt Some Job Hunters

They're really not - Glassdoor in my experience has always skewed low, after all it's self-reported. Highly-paid people tend to have more reason to stay quiet and not report these numbers because - as we've seen elsewhere in this thread - it often engenders hostility.

I know personally I was more loose about talking money when I was being paid a lot less than I am now.

The big players like AmaGooFaceSoft are routinely paying $300-400k for mid-level talent (5-10 yrs exp), and more for more senior.

In any case, these numbers ought to be known - much of startup-dom hinges on engineers not knowing what the big players are actually paying. If you can successfully convince someone that Facebook doesn't pay more than $200k, a startup salary suddenly seems more attractive. As someone who spent a lot of time in startups personally, I know my jaw hit the floor when I first found out about how high comp can get in BigTechCo.

And then I jumped ship.

Also worth noting: BigTechCo itself hinges on engineers not knowing what they pay ranges are. They absorb tons of talent coming out of startups and academia who were being paid a pittance, and even if they're willing to pay top dollar for this talent, they surely won't volunteer. All the more reason to not answer the "how much are you making right now" question, ever! Revealing your (comparatively low) startup/academia salary is a good way to make sure the "$300-400k" range immediately gets pulled off the table.

No, you never give out a number. It's like asking the person sitting across from you to show you their cards before placing a bet.

If a company is willing to pay $100K and you throw out a number, say $80K for example, then how much are you out?

If your first thought is $20K, then you'd probably be wrong. You would be correct if you stayed only one year with the company. However, every year you're with the company you're out another $20K not to mention any salary bumps or profit share that is a percentage of your salary, etc... After 5 years, you're out $100K.

You never give out your number.

When you are asked, "what's it going to take", you should always answer with something like: you're most competitive offer. I don't feel this is rude at all.

I usually recap how key points from the interview. Come back with how you believe you would add value to X and would love to work on Y and that your best competitive offer would get the ball rolling.

Your job is to find out the maximum a prospective employer is willing to pay. Likewise, a prospective employer is attempting to get the best bang for their buck.

Never show your hand. I've interviewed probably 15-20 times in my career and have never strayed from this course. Now I'm a business owner. I've interviewed 100s of people over the years and it never ceases to amaze me how many candidates flat out give me a number when I ask.

Head hunters are pain in the ass to deal with. They insist on knowing where you're at because they don't want you wasting their time. Well, tough shit! Head hunters need to figure out what the going rates are for whatever it is they are seeking candidates for. A good head hunter will let you negotiate for yourself.

I more or less tripled an (absurdly low) salary not that many years ago thanks to being warned to dodge the trap questions about previous comp and how much I 'need to get by' or such.

Looking back, I still made some mistakes, because my comp shot up by over 10% in a mid-year adjustment after they found out how well I was performing as the job itself was a really good fit for both of us.

Anyhow, that's some incredibly valuable advice and I'm glad for threads like these cluing me in on how the game works.

I am only ever in the market for co-founder jobs, and not really looking at the moment, because I really like my current co-founder job. Besides good domain knowledge, and preferably an existing customer base, the non-technical co-founder will need to find enough money for the startup to survive until the inflection point. Otherwise, they are 12 in a dozen. If a potential non-technical co-founder wants to save money by not paying enough, it is quite easy to cut the discussion short and to move on to another candidate -- entire websites full of them. There is really no shortage there. Lather, rinse, repeat. Salary history? Sounds like a ridiculous concept. I don't even remember my previous salaries.

Wow, madness. So before we were told not to ask the question in interviews; but suddenly it's ok to be asked the question in interviews.

For me it's definitely negotiable. If you can't afford me then after negotiation then any gulf can be made up with a guaranteed longer contract or shorter hours; it's as simple as that.

Disqualifying off the bat is stupid, especially as some places pay extra because they need someone urgently for a short period.